What Are Sample Rate and Bit Depth?

Sample rate and bit depth are commonly found in DAW software and digital audio, but what impact do these factors have on your overall sound? Be sure to watch until the end as Sweetwater’s Mitch Gallagher packages both of these terms into easily digestible definitions to aid in your sonic adventures.

0:00 — Intro
0:38 — Quick & Dirty Definitions
1:11 — Let’s Dig Deeper: Sample
1:44 — Sample Rate
2:06 — Nyquist–Shannon Theorem
2:23 — Theorem vs. Theory
2:44 — Nyquist Frequency
3:34 — Do High Sample Rates Sound Better?
3:58 — Bit Depth (a.k.a. Bit Width)
5:30 — Bit Depth vs. Dynamic Range
6:40 — Bit Depth and Processing
6:55 — The Wrap-up

#Sweetwater

[sweetwater]

Mitch is back with another helpful guide to understanding sample rate and bit depth! 🔥

[pumpkin]

Pure gold here. Hard concepts explained succinctly is an art. Great job.

[murielpalmer-rhea]

My 7 AM college class…Thanks Mitch & Sweetwater!😊

[ljules]

You guys are the best! Every concept you guys break down is so clear. Keep it up!

[TheSoulsandRevive]

Very informative content, cheers for this!

[RickMcCargar]

To be clear, In science, a theory is the best explanation for a set of facts. It is not a guess. A scientific theory consists of one or more hypotheses that have been supported by repeated testing. Theories are one of the pinnacles of science and are widely accepted in the scientific community as being true.

[americanswan]

Choose one song encoded in wav, 16bit and 32bit.

Open the wave file. Find the third sample. What's the number stored and way?

Open the 16bit file. Find the third sample. 16bit. What is the number and why?

Open the 32bit file. Find the third sample. What's the 32bit number and why?

After you have the binary numbers, then explain how the two binary numbers store your favorite vocab like the dynamic range, etc.

And how the two binary numbers, one 16 and the other 32 are both lossless.

Not one youtube video explains any of this, so it seems they don't know what they're talking about.

[eriksharar]

I can’t think of a time when I don’t need a snack.

[rodericksibelius]

BIT DEPTH the Voltage or Power Amplitude 2^n bit resolution or Dynamic Range, the Vertical Axis, Sampling Rate on the Horizontal Axis Time or Frequency domains on an oscilloscope or spectrum analyzer for electrical/electronic engineers for ANALOG / DIGITAL FFT FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM signal analysis.

[bigskybob]

earned a like on this ideo for the "...cookies or cracker" comment. LOL. Great vid.